Specification codes: guide to the data submission process
Updated 13 September 2023
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2023
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Introduction
In order to fulfil our regulatory and accreditation functions as set out in the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009, we require awarding organisations to provide exams delivery data for regulated qualifications.
When will data be collected?
Data will be collected according to the reporting schedule which is agreed and maintained by Ofqual’s data services team.
What data will be collected?
Specification codes data will be collected for GCSE, AS, A level and Project levels 1, 2 and 3.
Updates to formats and guidance
This guidance document will be updated regularly. Any changes to procedure will be incorporated into the guidance document.
How to submit your data
Your data should be submitted to us in CSV format. Please refer to the [‘Connecting to Ofqual’s data portal and uploading data’ document] on our web page.(https://www.gov.uk/guidance/submitting-data-to-ofqual) to help you submit your files to us. If you need to ask us about a data submission please contact the Data Services team. Please do not send your data files via email to Data Services or to any other Ofqual email address, or via Contact the Regulator in the Portal.
Uploaded data
Once files have been successfully uploaded, the data will be validated against a set of validation rules. These are detailed in the sections below. If validation is successful, the data is automatically transferred into our systems and you will receive email confirmation. If the file is unsuccessful at any stage of validation you will receive an email with details of the validation failure. Please correct your file and resubmit it.
Amendments to data
Ofqual staff will not alter data once it has been submitted. If you find an error or omission after you’ve had a successful upload, please notify us by email. We need to reject the existing submission before you can upload a new file.
How your data will be used
This data will be used to undertake our regulatory activities and, where required, to produce Official Statistics to fulfil our responsibility as a government department.
File format
The file must be CSV format and the first row must be headers as displayed in the ‘Name’ column of the table below. The subsequent rows must have the values of the data to be reported which must match the format and validation rules below.
General completion guidelines
- column headers must be an exact match
- if new specifications are added after the data has been submitted in April, Awarding Organisations should add this to the file originally submitted and notify Ofqual, so the new file can be uploaded to the Data Portal
- the format of specification and certification codes must be consistent in data submitted to Ofqual for all templates
- field 11 (FullOrShortCourse), should only have FC or SC entered if the row of data relates to GCSE. For GCE the value entered should be -2
| Name | Description | Position | Validation Regular Expression | Description of Regular Expression |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Year the data relates to, for example 2023 | 1 | ^\d{4}$ |
Four digit integer accepted. |
| ReportingDate | Date the file was due to be submitted regardless of when it was actually uploaded. Format accepted 120 ODBC canonical yyyy-mm-dd | 2 | ^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])$ |
The date in the following format: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), a dash, day (2 digits) |
| AwardingOrganisation | Name of the awarding organisation | 3 | ^.{1,100}$ |
1 to 100 characters accepted. |
| QAN | Qualification Accreditation Number, for example 123/1234/1 | 4 | ^.{1,10}$ |
1 to 10 characters accepted |
| SpecificationCode | Specification code. | 5 | ^.{1,7}$ |
1 to 7 characters accepted |
| SpecificationTitle | Specification title also known as subject title | 6 | ^.{1,150}$ |
1 to 150 characters accepted |
| CertificationCode | Certification code also known as cash-in or entry code | 7 | ^.{1,7}$ |
1 to 7 characters accepted |
| QualificationLevel | Level of qualification, for example GCSE | 8 | ^(GCSE|AS|A level|Project L1|Project L2|Project L3)$ |
One of the following list: GCSE, AS, A level, Project L1, Project L2, Project L3 |
| Tier | To indicate tier if applicable | 9 | ^(F|H|-2)$ |
One of the following list: F, H, -2 |
| DoubleOrSingleAward | To indicate whether subject is a double or single award | 10 | ^(DBL|SGL)$ |
One of the following list: DBL, SGL |
| FullOrShortCourse | To indicate whether subject is a full or short course | 11 | ^(FC|SC|-2)$ |
One of the following list: FC, SC, -2 |
| Applied | To indicate whether subject is applied | 12 | ^(Y|N)$ |
One of the following list: Y, N |
Contacts
For all queries relating to the data collection process, amendments to data previously provided, or for general guidance. please contact:
Data services
Ofqual
2nd floor, 1 Friargate
Station Square
Coventry
CV1 2GN